IF I upgrade to Quicken Classic Business + Personal, can I import from Wave app?

snsokstan

I've been using Quicken Classic for Mac for the past year successfully. I have a small business that I manage with Wave Accounting ( https://www.waveapps.com/ using the free version.

Is it possible to import from Wave App? I can export all transactions from Wave as a CSV but I have no idea about mapping to Quicken.

I'd like to manage everything in Quicken Personal + Business on my Mac.

Chris_QPW

The new business edition features don't add any new downloading capabilities. If you can't download this information now, then you won't be able to do it in the higher business edition either. And Quicken Mac only allows importing transaction in "Mint" CSV format.

RickO

If Wave can export QIF format, it may be able to be imported. I just did a quick search though, and it doesn't look like Wave exports to QIF.

Quicken will not import CSV data except from Mint. There are converters out there that will convert CSV transaction data to QFX which can be imported. These tools are not supported or condoned by Quicken, so you'd have to search for and take your chances with them.

One more comment: QMac P+B is pretty limited on the biz functionality so far. You would definitely want to check which biz functions of Wave you would need and if they are supported. On the other hand, if all you need is basic transaction tracking, then you may not even need to upgrade from QMac Deluxe or Premier.

jacobs

@snsokstan Quicken Mac Business & Personal is currently in its first release, so the features are pretty limited. Invoicing, for one, does not yet exist. The developers have said it will be coming, but we don't know when.

snsokstan

@NotACPA I started on QWin before the switch to the MacOS environment. After I switched to Mac (mainly because my work switched), I ran QWin in a Parallels VM. I found living in two operating systems to be a lot of maintenance. When QMac had improved investing support, I made the switch and gave up on Parallels.

Seems like the Win version is always more advanced than the Mac version.

Chris_QPW

Seems like the Win version is always more advanced than the Mac version.

In feature set, absolutely, and I don't see that changing any time soon. On implementation of what features they have; I think at this point I would give Quicken Mac a superior rating (based on the comments in this forum).

Quicken Windows always had more features than Quicken Mac for the simple fact that at the start it was like 95% Windows to 5% Mac users. That changed over time, but then there is also the fact that Quicken Mac got a total rewrite, and multiple "big rewrites" since 2008.

So, Quicken Windows is the old, feature rich, but buggy, non maintained feature sets. And Quicken Mac is the new fewer, but better supported feature set.

Given that neither of them are standing still, they are still adding features to Quicken Windows (some might question the usefulness of some of them, but they are new features) Quicken Mac is always going to have less features as long as the Quicken Mac development group isn't bigger than the Windows one. And at this point if I'm not mistaken, even though the Mac development group has grown a lot since Intuit sold it, I think the Windows group is still a bit bigger.

jacobs

@snsokstan said: Seems like the Win version is always more advanced than the Mac version.

Well, the Windows version has a 20+ year lead in development! Starting Quicken Mac from scratch in the late 2000s gave Quicken Mac a more modern, better, more robust database, and it isn't encumbered by some of the code being decades old and created in programming environments which are no longer used. But it means the Mac development team is still playing catch-up building functionality for Quicken Mac.

We should note that the old legacy Quicken Mac never had a business version, so the just-introduced business version puts Quicken Mac on a path towards greater similarity to Quicken Windows than ever before. But like the rest of the program, it will take a while to add the business functionality most people want. The developers have been clear that they know business users need more tools than they unveiled in the first release last month, and invoicing has been promised for a future release.

But as Chris noted, as much as the Mac team is adding, it will likely never fully catch up to Quicken Windows because Quicken Windows is adding features, too. (And because some features in Quicken Windows will be deemed not important enough/widely-enough used to replicate.)

@Chris_QPW said: And at this point if I'm not mistaken, even though the Mac development group has grown a lot since Intuit sold it, I think the Windows group is still a bit bigger.

I don't know anything about the size of the Quicken Windows development team. The Quicken Mac team, which for a while was only about 3 people, is now indeed larger — but it's still much smaller than most users probably think. With designers, developers, QA testers, and product and engineering managers, the team has fewer than 20 people. And while they have a few long-time Quicken veterans going back more than 20 years, there is always turnover in the competitive software industry, so some of the Quicken Mac team members have only been with Quicken a short while.

Chris_QPW

The new business edition features don't add any new downloading capabilities. If you can't download this information now, then you won't be able to do it in the higher business edition either. And Quicken Mac only allows importing transaction in "Mint" CSV format.

RickO

If Wave can export QIF format, it may be able to be imported. I just did a quick search though, and it doesn't look like Wave exports to QIF.

Quicken will not import CSV data except from Mint. There are converters out there that will convert CSV transaction data to QFX which can be imported. These tools are not supported or condoned by Quicken, so you'd have to search for and take your chances with them.

One more comment: QMac P+B is pretty limited on the biz functionality so far. You would definitely want to check which biz functions of Wave you would need and if they are supported. On the other hand, if all you need is basic transaction tracking, then you may not even need to upgrade from QMac Deluxe or Premier.

snsokstan

thanks, @RickO and @Chris_QPW.

I just need to track checking account and one credit card account in the Biz side of P+B. I also need to send invoices that contain basic info about my consulting activities. I need a roll-up of biz activities for the yearly Schedule C for my LLC.

jacobs

@snsokstan Quicken Mac Business & Personal is currently in its first release, so the features are pretty limited. Invoicing, for one, does not yet exist. The developers have said it will be coming, but we don't know when.

snsokstan

Thanks, all. The Quicken product won't meet my needs. I appreciate the input.

NotACPA

@snsokstan, your other option is to run a VM on your Mac and run QWin within that VM.

QWin B&P (previously H&B) has a lot more features than the QMac versions.

snsokstan

@NotACPA I started on QWin before the switch to the MacOS environment. After I switched to Mac (mainly because my work switched), I ran QWin in a Parallels VM. I found living in two operating systems to be a lot of maintenance. When QMac had improved investing support, I made the switch and gave up on Parallels.

Seems like the Win version is always more advanced than the Mac version.

Chris_QPW

Seems like the Win version is always more advanced than the Mac version.

In feature set, absolutely, and I don't see that changing any time soon. On implementation of what features they have; I think at this point I would give Quicken Mac a superior rating (based on the comments in this forum).

Quicken Windows always had more features than Quicken Mac for the simple fact that at the start it was like 95% Windows to 5% Mac users. That changed over time, but then there is also the fact that Quicken Mac got a total rewrite, and multiple "big rewrites" since 2008.

So, Quicken Windows is the old, feature rich, but buggy, non maintained feature sets. And Quicken Mac is the new fewer, but better supported feature set.

Given that neither of them are standing still, they are still adding features to Quicken Windows (some might question the usefulness of some of them, but they are new features) Quicken Mac is always going to have less features as long as the Quicken Mac development group isn't bigger than the Windows one. And at this point if I'm not mistaken, even though the Mac development group has grown a lot since Intuit sold it, I think the Windows group is still a bit bigger.

jacobs

@snsokstan said: Seems like the Win version is always more advanced than the Mac version.

Well, the Windows version has a 20+ year lead in development! Starting Quicken Mac from scratch in the late 2000s gave Quicken Mac a more modern, better, more robust database, and it isn't encumbered by some of the code being decades old and created in programming environments which are no longer used. But it means the Mac development team is still playing catch-up building functionality for Quicken Mac.

We should note that the old legacy Quicken Mac never had a business version, so the just-introduced business version puts Quicken Mac on a path towards greater similarity to Quicken Windows than ever before. But like the rest of the program, it will take a while to add the business functionality most people want. The developers have been clear that they know business users need more tools than they unveiled in the first release last month, and invoicing has been promised for a future release.

But as Chris noted, as much as the Mac team is adding, it will likely never fully catch up to Quicken Windows because Quicken Windows is adding features, too. (And because some features in Quicken Windows will be deemed not important enough/widely-enough used to replicate.)

@Chris_QPW said: And at this point if I'm not mistaken, even though the Mac development group has grown a lot since Intuit sold it, I think the Windows group is still a bit bigger.

I don't know anything about the size of the Quicken Windows development team. The Quicken Mac team, which for a while was only about 3 people, is now indeed larger — but it's still much smaller than most users probably think. With designers, developers, QA testers, and product and engineering managers, the team has fewer than 20 people. And while they have a few long-time Quicken veterans going back more than 20 years, there is always turnover in the competitive software industry, so some of the Quicken Mac team members have only been with Quicken a short while.

Chris_QPW

Based sole on a picture I saw years ago I would think the Windows development team is between 10 and 20 people (actual developers). I would also expect there to be a high rate of turnover. But this is purely guessing. And another factor against Quicken Mac getting more people and such is the fact that even though it is no 95% to 5%, for sure Windows is the much larger set of customers/revenue.